Review

It is difficult not to anticipate The Almost's 2nd full-length release with a strong sense of deja vu. Where does this sound familiar? The drummer of a critically acclaimed & commercially successful band becomes the lead vocalist of another outfit. While taking the name of a group, this man practically plays every instrument on the project's more rock-oriented debut... And while the results are mixed, the potential is clearly apparent. Unfortunately for Underoath's Aaron Gillespie, The Almost's follow-up LP 'Monster, Monster' is no 'The Colour & The Shape'... And he has a little way to go to match up to the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl.

Similarly to debut long-player 'Southern Weather', 'Monster, Monster' begins with a cavalcade of hooks. Certain to be a live favorite, 'Hands' especially stands out. With its winning piano line, jangly guitars and super infectious sing-along chorus, it is reminiscent of Jacks Mannequin's more up-tempo cuts. With the possible exception of the opening title track and ultra-melodic 'Souls On Ten' however, nothing else could be classified as distinctly memorable in this department.

Perhaps realizing this lack of distinction, Gillespie searches elsewhere for a secret ingredient. Many tracks re-explore the southern rock/alt-country vibe occasionally given off on 'Southern Weather'. Again however, only one such song stands out, with emotional six minute closer 'Monster' opening acoustically, before satisfyingly breaking out into a steel guitar led instrumental jam. The album's surprise element comes in the form of extending this sound into a slice of nostalgic Americana to lend it a stronger sense of storytelling. It helps to keep Gillespie lyrically focused, but he also has a little way to go to match up to The Gaslight Anthem.

While Gillespie does double duty on drums here, he is joined by Dusty Redmon & Jay Vilardi on guitars, as well as Alex Aponte on bass. However, any sense that this album has a fuller sound when compared to the one-man debut is minimal. One cannot help but feel that in consolidating The Almost as a group effort, Gillespie has compromised to some degree. There is a sense of safety which permeates through much of the LP and, while no track is entirely poor, a listeners attention is likely to fade during the filler moments. Thankfully, the highlights are strong and there is a level of consistency which still makes 'Monster, Monster' a solid release that suggests a potentially promising future.

Similarly to Moneen a couple of months ago, this is another occasion when a teaser EP has built up anticipation by including 2 of the subsequent album's best tracks on it. That only results in a certain degree of disappointment for what is otherwise a solid release.

Hey CK, remember that episode of South Park where Cartman learns to shit out of his mouth? Did you watch that episode over and over and eventually put it into practice with the first paragrah of this review?

Far be it from me to tell you when to rate albums Caleb, but you may want to think twice about rating albums so quickly in the future. Oh well, at least we now both agree that 'Southern Weather' is slightly better than this.

Fair opinion on the comparison being irrelevant I guess DavID, but it worked on a number of fronts; (a) my anticipation for this album. I liked 'Southern Weather' a fair bit & the Monster EP was very good. (b) It's factual. (c) I believe the sound of this album does have similarities to E,S,P&G.